Self-locking seal.



E. TYDEN.

SELF LOCKING SEAL.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 16. 1915.

1,146A62B Patented July 13, 1915.

Ma 51 we 1%! EMIL TYDEN, OF EVANSTON, ILLINOIS.

SELF-LOCKING SEAL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 13, 1915.

Application filed January 16, 1915. Serial No. 2,507.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EMIL TYDEN, a. citizen of the United States, and resident of Evanston, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements in Self-Locking Seals, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

The purpose of this invention is to provide an improved device of the nature of a self-locking seal, of a type in which a flexible sheet metal strap has mounted upon one end of it a bulb or shell which contains the locking devices and into which the otherend is thrust for looking after the strap has been passed through the parts which are to be connected by the seal.

It consists in the elements and features of construction shown and described as indi cated in the claims.

In the drawings :Figure 1 is a plan view of. a seal embodying this invention in locked position with the strap engaged with the overlapping hasps or staples which are secured by the device. Fig. 2 is a section at the line 22 on Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a section at the line 33 on Fig. 2. Fig. f is a plan view of the blank from which the strap and a housing or throat for the same in the shell is formed in one piece by folding. Fig. 5 is a plan view of the diaphragm before it is closed up in the shell.

The strap, 1, has at one end a widened portion, 2, which is folded upon the body of the strap to form the housing or throatway into which the other end of the strap is inserted in engaging and locking the seal. This housing, 2, extends through the shell which is formed of two members, 4 and 5, and a diaphragm, 6, secured between them in a seam at which said two members are joined. The principal shell member, 4, and the diaphragm, 6, have alined apertures, 4s and 6, through which the housing, 2, extends, the apertures, 6, of the diaphragm being enough shorter than the width of the housing so that the latter is engaged at both edges by the diaphragm which enters notches, 7 and 8, such engagement being rendered possible by the manner in which the diaphragm is formed, as shown in Fig. 5, that is, cut through at one end of the apertures, 6, and spreads slightly so that the housing may be inserted through the aperture, notwithstanding the latter is not quite so long as the width of the housing,

the diaphragm being afterward closed up to engage the notches mentioned. In the process of thus pinching the diaphragm onto the housing the two members, a and 5, of the shell are clenched together embracing the periphery of the diaphragm and completing the formation of the shell and its securement to the strap.

The locking device is the familiar one in the Tyden seal, consisting of one or more rings of fine spring wire, each coil with its ends lapped in the normal condition of the device, these rings being spread and fastened onto the housing so that the opposite ends of the wire are stopped against the opposite outer sides of the housing, and the middle of the ring is engaged in the notch,

9, formed in the fold of the housing, the wire of the ring thus protruding in, or extending across, the path through the housing which must be traversed by the inserted end of the seal strap, which inserted end is tapered or sloped at the edge which will encounter the wire when that end is inserted, and acting as a cam upon the ring will crowd it out of the notch, 9, and in so doing by reason of the slope of the notch, will draw the two ends of the ring to the apertures, 10, 10, facing each other in the opposite sides of the housing so that the ring will close together by its ends snapping through these apertures. Both the notch, 9, and the apertures, 10, 10, are formed in the housing so as to be positioned both at the same side of the diaphragm and in the chamber of the shell formed by the member, 4, thereof. The member, 5, which is clenched onto the periphery of the diaphragm and at the same time is clenched to the member, 4-, extends off from the diaphragm at the side opposite the member, 4, in a cylindrical form, preferably folded back within itself to form a folded edge for the sake of stifiness, and also that it may extend back to, and terminate upon, the outer face of the diaphragm, thereby further fortifying the latter in its position in the shell. This member of the shell thus forms what may be called a vestibule or open-mouthed chamber at the side of the diaphragm from which the strap extends, and into which the free end of it is inserted for locking the seal. Preferably, the housing formed by the widened portion of the strap blank folded upon itself, as described, is made to terminate just outside the diaphragm, that is, projecting beyond. the outer surface of the diaphragm only sufliciently to permit the opening inlet to be slightly flared, so that the insertion of the free end of the strap may be facilitated.

The purpose of the particular construction of the shell described, by means of which it is made to constitute at one side of the diaphragm an open-mouthed chamber or vestibule, is that thereby it may be impossible to practice a mode of tampering with the seal which is sometimes attempted with this kind of seal, consisting in cutting ofl the strap close to the housing and inserting the severed end in the housing, so that except upon close scrutiny the tampering with the seal cannot be observed. When the housing terminates as described close to the diaphragm, and the shell has the vestibule described extending out from the diaphragm from a considerable distance, as shown, it is practically impossible to sever the strap back in the vestibule at the end of the housing, because neither file nor nippers nor scissors can be made to reach into the vestibule so as to cut across the strap close to the diaphragm; and if the strap is cut at a point outside the vestibule such tampering with the seal is immediately obvious upon the slightest inspection.

I claim':

1. In a seal in combination with a shell having a chamber whose opposite walls are apertured for the insertion of a securing device; an engaging device lodged unattached in the chamber and completely inclosed therein, consisting of a spring adapted to be encountered by the intruding end of the securing device, and to react automatically into engagement therewith; the shell having an annular flange forming an exterior recess at the bottom of which is the opening into which the end of the securing device is entered for inserting it for locking engagement.

2. A self-locking seal comprising a shell; a securing strap having one end permanently secured to the shell; the shell having in its opposite walls apertures one of which constitutes the entrance mouth of a passageway through the shell through which the opposite end of the strap may be inserted; an engaging device inclosed in the shell for engaging the inserted end of the strap, the shell comprising a member which forms a projection encompassing said entrance mouth, forming an outwardly open vestibule around it.

8. In combination with a diaphragm, two shell members which are clenched together and upon the periphery of the diaphragm, one of said members forming a closed chamber at one side of the diaphragm, and the other forming an open vestibule at the op- Gopies of this patent may be obtained for posite side, the diaphragm and the first mentioned member having apertures in line with each other one of which is at the bottom or back of said vestibule and which terminates a throat-way for insertion through the shell of the securing strap; a strap adapted to be thus inserted, and an engaging device in said chamber adapted to automatically engage the strap when the latter is inserted through said alined aperture.

4c. A-self-locking seal comprising, in combination with a strap having one end portion folded upon the body of the strap to form a flat tubular housing or throat-way; a shell mounted on said end and having said housing or throat-way extending through it, said shell comprising two members forming opposite walls, and which are united at their periphery a securing device within the shell chamber, consisting of a spring coiled so as to normally have the ends lapped, and spread to engage the tubular housing between its ends, and having its middle portion engaged with a notch in one edge of the housing, whereby said middle portion extends into the tubular cavity of the housing, the housing having alined apertures in its opposite walls through which the ends of the spring may snap, the opposite end of the strap being adapted for insertion endwise through the housing, and having a sloping edge for encountering the middle portion of the ring to disengage it from the notch and draw it to such alined apertures; the wall of the shell at the side through which the end of the strap is inserted having an annular flange which encompasses the aperture at that side, forming a vestibule there-about.

5. In a self-locking seal of the type which consists of a flexible metal strap, a shell secured at one end thereof having openings therethrough which are at the opposite eX- tremities of a throat-way through said shell for insertion of the opposite end of the strap, and an engaging device in the shell, the end or side of the shell into which the said opposite end of the strap is inserted for engagement being deeply depressed around the aperture through which the strap is thus inserted to cause the entrance mouth of the strap-end to be at the bottom of said depression, whereby said depression forms a vestibule about said entrance mouth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand at Chicago, Illinois, this 9th day of January, 1915.

EMIL TYDEN.

Witnesses EDNA M. MAoKIN'rosH,

LUCY I. STONE.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

